As the morning sun went above the hills, Liu Dachun’s wife was guiding her cow through the wetland, while Lu’s daughter, a college art student, spotted the pair and     1    (pencil) a quick drawing.

Shiyanping, a traditional Tujia village, has 182 well-preserved buildings    2    (construct) in the typical wooden building style,     3     (most)built in the Ming and Qing dynasties. In 2013, the ancient architecture complex    4    (recognize) as one of the nation’s major historical and cultural sites.

In recent years, the village’s unique building complex, as well as other Tujia cultural activities, have attracted a stream of tourists. The village received more than 100,000 visits and achieved     5    income of about 5 million yuan from tourism in 2022.

Liu Dachun, a skilled farmer, is hard at work preparing for spring plowing (犁地). He has tried out the rice-fish farming system,     6     not only benefits the environment but also local residents. According to Wu, fish raised in rice fields are more popular among consumers as they are environmentally-friendly — the fish waste can add natural fertility (肥料)to the soil    7    hence promote rice output. Quan Xiping,another 59-year-old villager, was among the first in the village    8     (establish) a family-run hotel. Meanwhile, his son started an online specialty store, capitalizing on the rapid     9     (grow) of rural tourism in the area. His e-commerce business is working more efficiently due to the village’s    10     (rise) appeal.

Harmony is a core value of China’s Hehe culture, which is    1     (wide) appreciated in modern Chinese society.

The term “Hehe” (和合)     2     (consist) of two Chinese characters that have the same pronunciation but different meanings: the first means harmony, and the second means convergence. In short, Hehe culture involves    3     (seek) common ground while reserving differences, and it means harmonious coexistence and coordinated development. Liuchixiang, a 2-meter-wide alley in Anhui’s Tongcheng City, is a location in China    4    has its own story of harmony.

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi over 300 years ago, high-ranking official ZhangYing received    5    letter from his family in Tongcheng, his hometown. In their letter, they told Zhang that they had quarreled    6    property boundaries with their neighbor, Wu, and asked for help.

Zhang replied to their letter with a poem: “A letter is written, just for a wall.     7    it moves a meter, what harm is done? The Great Wall still stands tall today, yet    8    (go) is its builder, Emperor Qinshihuang.”

Enlightened by his reply, the Zhang family decided    9     (bring) their walls back by approximately one meter. Deeply moved by their generosity, the Wu family also brought their walls back by a meter, and the two households created a 2-meter-wide alley between their homes for passersby.

The alley is now a popular    10     (attract) that is traversed daily by locals.

Bacteriophages (phages) and other mobile genetic elements (MGEs) exert an immense selective pressure on     1    (bacterium), which in response have developed a broad arsenal of defence mechanisms.     2     these, CRISPR–Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats–CRISPR-associated proteins) is a group of widespread RNA-guided adaptive immune systems that are classified into two broad classes, six types and numerous subtypes according to their genetic composition and interference mechanism1. The CRISPR–Cas immune response starts with the    3    (acquire) of short DNA fragments (protospacers) from invading MGEs. The protospacers are inserted as spacers between repeats in the CRISPR array to create a memory of the infection. Next, the CRISPR array is expressed    4     a long transcript that is processed into small, mature CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs), each    5    (carry) a spacer sequence flanked by part of the repeat. Finally, the interference complexes, composed     6     a crRNA and one (class 2) or more (class 1) Cas proteins, degrade the complementary nucleic-acid targets that are often found next to a short protospacer-adjacent motif (PAM). The specificity and programmability of the CRISPR–Cas machinery     7    (lead) to the development of various biotechnological applications in genome editing, molecular diagnostics and more.

In the evolutionary arms race with CRISPR–Cas, phages and other MGEs have evolved diverse strategies to block or circumvent immunity. One widespread evasion mechanism uses protein-    8    (base) CRISPR–Cas inhibitors called anti-CRISPRs (Acrs). So far, more than 100 Acr protein families have been identified    9     inhibit different stages of the CRISPR–Cas immune response, mainly by interacting directly with Cas proteins. For example, Acrs prevent crRNA loading, effector-complex formation, and target DNA binding and cleavage. Notably, the discovery of these natural ‘off switches’ has presented new opportunities    10    (control) the activity of CRISPR–Cas technologies.

The sheepskin raft (羊皮筏), the oldest means of transportation along the Yellow River, has a history of nearly 2,000 years. The airbag of the raft is made of     1     whole sheepskin and goes through many processes including heating to remove hair, soaking in salty oil, sewing, drying     2     blowing. Then the airbags     3     (fasten) to a wooden stand, enabling its use for transporting people and goods across the water.

It is said that the largest sheepskin raft in old times     4     (consist) of more than 600 sheepskin airbags, with an impressive length of 22 meters and a     5     (wide) of 7 meters. It was capable of carrying around 30 tons of goods and drifting over 200 kilometers in one day.

In the early 20th century, before the 1950s,     6     railways were not yet in operation and road traffic was     7    (convenient), the sheepskin raft served as the most important means of transportation for residents     8     (live) along the Yellow River.

However, with the rapid development of society, the sheepskin raft has largely played its historical role     9     transporting people and goods. Nowadays, it can only be found along the banks of the Yellow River in some cities in Gansu province. It has become a tool for people     10     (do) some sightseeing on the Yellow River.

Tai Hang, a modern-looking neighborhood in Hong Kong, is home to the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance,a folk art form that    1    (perform)during the Mid-Autumn Festival for over 100 years.    2    started as a way to rid this fishing village of bad luck has become a cultural treasure.

The dragon is about 70 meters long and weighs more than 200 pounds,with its body     3     (wrap) with pearl grass.More than 70,000 incense sticks(香柱)are lit and strung along the dragon’s back and head to make the“fire”of the fire dragon.At the festival,hundreds of people work    4    turn to parade the burning dragon through the streets of Tai Hang.The     5    (strong)man among the group has    6    honor of supporting the 30-kilogram head. Dozens of performers    7    (move)the dragon smoothly up and down through the air attract rounds of cheers and    8    (applaud)from surrounding crowds.

The inheritors of the dragon dance have set up workshops to demonstrate various aspects of the traditional art from the making techniques to    9    (base)dance skills.In June, 2022,the Hong Kong Tai Hang Fire Dragon Museum was opened    10    (inspire)more people to learn more about this traditional dance culture.

To write his own medical text, Li Shizhen referenced over 800 medical texts, countless books on history and geography, and works of literature. He even studied the complete works of many ancient poets, from     1     he selected a surprising number of verses about medicine. However, the greatest issue he encountered was the widespread     2    (inconsistent) in the use of drug names. Realising the importance of field research outweighed     3    of extensive reading, in 1565 Li travelled far and wide into the mountains and wilderness. He covered what are today’s provinces of Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu, and many other places.

After over a decade of field research, Li     4    (successful) completed the first draft of his masterpiece, Bencao Gangmu, or the Compendium of Materia Medica in 1578. He revised     5     work at least three times right up until his death in 1593.

Since its first publication in 1596, the book     6    (receive) world-wide recognition. British naturalist Charles Darwin acknowledged the book     7     an “ancient Chinese encyclopedia.” In 2011, the book    8    (list) on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. In 2017, an international conference was held in Beijing     9    (celebrate) Li’s 500th birthday.

Today, there are a     10    (grow) number of international exchanges centering on Li Shizhen and his book, and many people around the world can still find the wisdom of human development in this ancient classic.

Running for more than 20,000 kilometers, the Great Wall is a historical landmark of unparalleled glory, but climbing     1     is hard work. Not everyone has the strength or     2     (determine)to climb its tall steps and steep slopes (斜坡), while only a handful may have the special skills to     3     (physical) participate in the restoration of this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

However, a recently     4    (launch) WeChat miniprogram is allowing every history enthusiast to be a hero in a virtual world,     5     one not just climbs the Great Wall, but also protects it. Great Wall E-tour, co-produced by the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation and internet giant Tencent, among others,     6     (go) online on June 11 to mark the annual     7     (nation) Cultural and Natural Heritage Day. Offering an almost simulated (模拟的) experience of climbing the Wall and helping in preservation work, the program has created a lot of enthusiastic     8     (response) in recent weeks and won a large fan base.

Thanks     9    cutting-edge digital technology, the virtual model is “detailed to millimeters”. Around 50,000 high-definition pictures have been used     10    (offer) users the remarkable experience.

Gather together a couple of good friends and take a leisurely walk through the streets—this is     1     many youngsters in China enjoy doing when they visit a new city.

To them, Citywalk means roaming (漫步) around the city on foot. It can be a special     2     (guide) trip for a small group of people,     3     simply a leisurely walk for one or two to explore new areas, sticking to the key point: avoiding famous scenic spots and big crowds to gain     4     more inclusive experience of the places they visit.

Citywalk not only offers a way for young people to interact with a city but also     5     (provide) them with a new social scene. Xiao Yiyi, a Citywalk     6     (enthusiastic), launched her Changsha route on her social media account, including more offbeat sights like historical sites and even a stop-off     7     (sample) the local cuisine. Many tour guides also try to expand their influence online,     8     (share) their experiences to attract potential customers.

Citywalk is offering a positive change to urban travelers as they can     9     (well) choose the experiences that fit in with their interests and needs. At the same time, Citywalk represents an opportunity for tour guides and travel service providers to offer a more tailored,     10     (profession) service to meet ever-changing market demands.

Norwegian playwright and author Jon Fosse     1     (award) the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature in the previous month for his “innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable”.

The Swedish Academy credits Fosse     2     “one of the most widely performed playwrights in the world”, although the 64-year-old originally made his name as a novelist,     3     (begin) with The Red and the Black in 1983. He has since written many works of prose and poetry.

Growing up in a small coastal village, Fosse was immersed in the beauty of nature and the vastness of the sea. He draws     4     (inspire) from his rural living environment and personal struggles, which have deeply influenced his distinctive writing style. Fosse’s writing discussed themes of loneliness, longing, and the search for meaning in life.     5     (addition), his battles with depression have enabled     6     (he) to explore the depths of human emotions and existential despair.

“He touches you so deeply when you read his works,” said Anders Olsson, Chairman of the Noble Prize Committee. “    7     is special about him is the closeness in his writing. It touches your     8     (deep) feelings — anxieties, insecurities, questions of life and death,     9     are things that every human being actually face s from the very beginning. In that sense I think he reaches very far and there is     10     universal impact of everything that he writes — it has appeal to this basic humanity.”